Hildebrand 14th fastest during final practice before qualifying

Share this:

Simon Pagenaud, of France, top, and JR Hildebrand speed down the main straightaway during a practice session for the Indianapolis 500 auto race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis, Wednesday, May 18, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

INDIANAPOLIS >> JR Hildebrand of Sausalito stood 14th fastest on the speed chart on the final full day of practice before qualifications for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 29 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Hildebrand, seeking his sixth Indy 500 start, believes a little more speed is left in his Dallara/Chevrolet for qualifications this weekend.

“I feel like the speed is still in the car,” Hildebrand said. We have a mile-an-hour to find. We didn’t squeeze everything out of it that we could have, given the trim level that we were on.

“All three (Ed Carpenter Racing) cars are fast. We can use all of the collective data to pick out all of the best little things to move forward.”

Will Power and Josef Newgarden finally got Chevrolet to the top of the speed chart.

Now they’ll have to do it all over again in qualifying — at least twice.

The Australian driver for Team Penske took advantage of a power by producing the fastest lap all week in Indianapolis 500 practice, going 232.672 mph, while Newgarden finished second at 232.344.

“I’m really impressed with the speeds,” said James Hinchcliffe, the top Honda driver at 231.972. “I really didn’t think we’d hit those numbers.”

The numbers also can be deceptive.

Power acknowledged his impressive lap came with a tow, something he won’t benefit from when each of the 33 drivers make their first four-lap qualifying runs individually Saturday.

The nine fastest drivers advance to Sunday’s pole shootout while the remaining 24 will battle for starting position in their own group Sunday.

Power understands what it will take to start on the inside of Row 1 on the traditional three-car, 11-row grid. He’s qualified on the front row in three of the past six 500s and in the second row the other three times..

Newgarden also has some experience in the shootout. The young American, who drives for Ed Carpenter Racing, has started in the top nine each of the past two years at Indy.

Yet the most intriguing question heading into qualifying might is this: Can the Honda drivers regain the edge they appeared to have before series officials added almost 30 horsepower to the cars Friday?

“I think it’s good and fast,” Power said of his car. “I think it’s going to be really tight for the pole and I think I’m going to be right there.”

Honda drivers posted the best speeds each of the first three days of practice, and they took nine of the top 11 spots Friday, too.

Hinchcliffe, a Canadian driver with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports led the contingent at just a tick under 232.

Andretti Autosport has been the strongest team all week and each of its five drivers finished in the top 10 on the final full day of practice. Carlos Munoz led the Andretti pack. He was fourth at 231.952 while American Marco Andretti finished fifth at 231.824.

“The car feels great, it’s really good for sure,” Munoz said. “We have still some margin to go for tomorrow, like I think everyone does. We’ll see what we go.”